Greg Mercer, Record staff

KITCHENER - Toronto’s Justin Cicatello was doing everything he could to keep the Maple Leafs’ season alive, until his luck finally ran out.

The right-hander, faced with a must-win game, gave a gutsy, eight-inning performance Thursday night at Jack Couch Park, despite some early some stumbles.

It all ended when the Kitchener Panthers’ Yorbis Borroto launched a fastball over the left field fence, a blast that broke a 3-3 tie — and ultimately eliminated Toronto while sending Kitchener to the Intercounty Baseball League championships.

The Panthers will now play the Barrie Baycats in the finals, for the third time in four years. The Baycats, who’ve won four straight league titles, swept both rounds of the playoffs to advance.

Kitchener’s 4-3 victory at Jack Couch Park, in which the Panthers scored all their runs off homers, finished off a four-game sweep of Toronto.

Toronto jumped out to an early lead, loading the bases against Kitchener pitcher Jonder Martinez and scoring twice in the first inning.

The lead was short-lived. Mike Gordner, who blasted a home run in Wednesday’s game, launched a ball over the left field fence in the bottom of the frame to tie it up.

Martinez settled down after the first inning and was backed up by solid defence, including a pretty double-play by shortstop Borroto in the fourth.

The veteran Cuban pitcher worked extremely slowly, taking his time between pitches. Toronto’s Justin Marra responded in the fifth by repeatedly getting in and out of the batter’s box, dragging out a long at-bat that ended in a walk.

Brian Burton had his second home run in as many nights, putting Kitchener up by one in the bottom of that inning. Toronto tied it up again in the fifth, when Marcus Knecht slapped an RBI single off Borroto’s glove.

Cicatello seemed to get better as the game went on, forcing Panthers manager Luke Baker to get creative.

He tried to break the deadlock in the sixth, putting on the hit and run with two out. That got Burton to third, but he was left stranded. An inning later, he called for a bunt that got the go-ahead run to second, but Cicatello wiggled out of it.

Martinez was pulled after six innings, having given up eight hits and three walks while striking out four. Matt Vickers pitched a clean seventh, while Mike Schnurr was aided in the eighth by Gordner, who threw out Knecht stealing second.

The Maple Leafs looked like a team not ready to end their season. They scratched out nine hits, turned double plays and kept pressing late into the game.

“I expect them to come out fighting,” Baker said, before the game.

Kitchener came back to Jack Couch Park with a three-game stranglehold in the series. The skipper said “a lot of things have been going right” in these playoffs.

They’ve enjoyed timely hitting and solid defence. But it’s all started with the guys on the mound, who’ve given the Panthers six straight wins in these playoffs.

“Our pitching has been really good. Even when guys have got into a bit of a jam, they’ve been able to get out of it,” Baker said.

The Panthers stole the momentum in the series when they won Games 1 and 2 on Sunday, including the conclusion of a rain-suspended series opener. Kitchener was down in Game 1 when the rain interfered, and that come-from-behind victory seems to have ignited them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever won two playoff games in one day before,” Baker said. “It was a confidence boost. Toronto’s a good team and I feel like that took a bit of the wind out of their sails.”